By LEVI PULKKINEN, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Published 10:33 pm, Thursday, December 20, 2012

A Seattle man accused of beating his mother so severely that she lost part of a finger has been charged with assault.

King County prosecutors claim Richard Hauksson viciously beat his mother with a metal construction level following an argument at their Magnolia home.

Hauksson, 49, is alleged to have lied to hospital staff about the Dec. 6 assault, which left his 67-year-old mother battered. The woman sustained five breaks to her hands and arms.

The investigation was launched after Seattle police were called to Harborview Medical Center by medical staff there.

The woman arrived at the Seattle hospital three days earlier after she was injured in what was initially claimed to have been a fall. Hospital staff determined the woman had been beaten with a blunt object; investigators also noted she was underweight, frail and going through alcohol withdrawals.

According to charging documents, the woman told police Hauksson attacked her with a level. The attack left her with a fractured clavicle, other broken bones and severe finger injuries.

Officers responding to the home recovered a metal level as well as bloody sheets and clothing. They also arrested Hauksson.

Writing the court, a Seattle police detective said Hauksson denied hitting his mother and claimed that she simply fell while drunk.

Hauksson has been charged with second-degree assault and remains jailed on $500,000 bail. Prosecutors contend the crime was one of domestic violence, which would increase Hauksson’s sentence if he is convicted.